Confederate Goliath, The Battle of Fort Fisher by Rod Gragg

[emike123]

I am sure the Plumber, divedigger, Wilmington Mike, Pipe and other NC folks have read this book, but on a tip from a customer, I picked up a paperback copy for $3.  It, and some Melatonin, made the long flight home from India go by quickly and i heartily recommend it.  I did not know much about this significant battle, but i did know that Braxton Bragg was a lousy General.  now I have more facts to back that up...

[relicrunner]

Some years ago, I read another great book on the Battle of Ft Fisher, can't remember the name, that was very insightful. I loaned it to a good friend relic collector and his dog ate it   .
Just finished "Guardian of Savannah" by Roger Durham.....the story of Ft. McAllister.....very fascinating with great information on the building of the fort, the many battles and the aftermath. Would/should be very interesting to all artillery folks

[emike123]

Ugh, I meant to leave this book with you today to read.

I think a couple forumites used to dig with Roger.  I talked to him about a camp he found on Hilton Head (where I was visiting my Dad this week) that now has a golf course fairway right through the middle of it :-(

[Garret]

I recently had a text conversation with Pipedreamer and we were discussing all the Fort Fisher relics on Nick Periut's site.  If you're a shell collector you have to be fascinated by that battle--the sheer tonnage of artillery that was heaped on it, the blunders by generals on both sides, the hand to hand combat, etc.  This battle had it all. 

[pipedreamer65]

In my opinion, Confederate Goliath is the best book on the subject of the battles of Fort Fisher.  It's a real page turner.  Rod Gragg is a great writer with the gift of flow and telling a story.  He should because he is a former newsman, back when news guys actually worked a beat and wrote their own material and such.  I'm good friends with Dr. Fonvielle and what I say about Gragg's book wouldn't hurt his feelings.  Fonvielle's work covers the entire campaign and has superior research behind it.  The Dr. is one of the best technical researchers I know of and he is very prolific with his writing. 

Glad you took the time to learn more about my favorite battle Mike. 

[gflower]

I would be one of those formites! Mike do you have his contact info.? G